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iPad If anti glare is so great, why now?

mcdj

mcdj

macrumors G3
Original poster
Jul 10, 2007
8,972
4,225
NYC
Anti glare coatings have been around for ages, on eyeglasses, wristwatches, TV, screens, computer monitors, etc.

Why is Apple adopting it only now, on what amounts to the 6th generation iPad? If it's so great, why wasn't it on iPad 1? And why isn't it on the new iPhones?

I can all but guarantee Jony Ive & Co. played with dozens of different glass types for the first iPad...different thicknesses, different coatings...they clearly made a conscious decision to forego anti glare treatment until now.

Are they compensating for some change in the glass or LCD? Does the new fused screen create a problem that only an anti glare coating can ameliorate?

Did they come up with a coating that is somehow superior to previously available coatings which were unacceptable?

Is the coating under the glass or somehow applied differently than any other kind of anti glare? Is it not even a coating at all?

All I know is, every anti glare treatment I've seen on any product produces weird and distracting colorized reflections. They may not be as bright as reflections on untreated glass, but they're no less distracting to my eye.

I'm hoping there's a really good reason for the Air getting anti glare, and I hope it's somehow better than other iterations of the treatment.
 
Maybe they have a new technology that finally meets their clarity requirements.
 
mcdj said:
Why is Apple adopting it only now, on what amounts to the 6th generation iPad? If it's so great, why wasn't it on iPad 1? And why isn't it on the new iPhones?
Click to expand...
Apple has been using anti-reflective coating on the iPhones since the iPhone 5 (it reduced screen reflectance by about 25-40% compared to the previous iPhones). The coating on the new iPad will probably be similar.
I can all but guarantee Jony Ive & Co. played with dozens of different glass types for the first iPad...different thicknesses, different coatings...they clearly made a conscious decision to forego anti glare treatment until now.
Click to expand...
We'll never know the details, but perhaps it was simply too expensive so far for larger touch screens. There have been reports that Apple still has some manufacturing issues with the new coating for the Air 2.
 
I would guess that most of the improvement will be due to eliminating the air pocket and NOT the anti-glare coating.

And don't the retina MacBook Pro's have an anti-glare coating?
 
I am concerned that the coating will wear off over time, and create a weird smudging effect on the most swiped portions of the screen.

I currently have a tempered glass screen protector for my phone which had an oleophobic coating applied by the manufacturer (MIME), but now, after about 10 months of having it on, the center of the phone now captures fingerprints and oily smudging very easily, while the outer edges (places my finger touches less) are still pretty finger print resistant.

If I were to purchase an iPad Air 2, I wouldn't want to put a screen protector on it (probably just a case or cover) and I was wondering what the prospects of similar things happening to the glass would be, now that they are advertising that there is a "coating" applied.

What is the community's thoughts on this? It's probably too early to tell since no consumer has it in their hands just yet...
 
cnxyz said:
I am concerned that the coating will wear off over time, and create a weird smudging effect on the most swiped portions of the screen.

I currently have a tempered glass screen protector for my phone which had an oleophobic coating applied by the manufacturer (MIME), but now, after about 10 months of having it on, the center of the phone now captures fingerprints and oily smudging very easily, while the outer edges (places my finger touches less) are still pretty finger print resistant.

If I were to purchase an iPad Air 2, I wouldn't want to put a screen protector on it (probably just a case or cover) and I was wondering what the prospects of similar things happening to the glass would be, now that they are advertising that there is a "coating" applied.

What is the community's thoughts on this? It's probably too early to tell since no consumer has it in their hands just yet...
Click to expand...

The coating will be applied to the actual LCD behind the glass, it won't wear off.
 
mcdj said:
source?
Click to expand...

no source... but it is common for high end watch manufacturers to only put anti reflection coating on the inside of the crystal for the same reason - ugly wear after time/use if applied to the outer surface.
 
coops said:
no source... but it is common for high end watch manufacturers to only put anti reflection coating on the inside of the crystal for the same reason - ugly wear after time/use if applied to the outer surface.
Click to expand...

The coating is rubbing off on some of the rMBPs because it's on the surface supposedly.
 
coops said:
no source... but it is common for high end watch manufacturers to only put anti reflection coating on the inside of the crystal for the same reason - ugly wear after time/use if applied to the outer surface.
Click to expand...

Right, but in a watch, you have a much smaller surface area to deal with. On watches, anti reflective coatings are more about a stylistic choice (Rolex only uses them under the magnifying lens) than they are about increasing actual legibility. A watch with a good anti glare coating "looks cool" because it seems like it has no crystal, which is more to the point than cutting down reflections for legibility purposes.

There's also air space between the dial and the underside of the glass, which gives the undercoating a chance to cut down the light bouncing around under the crystal.

On the iPad, with the LCD bonded to the glass, the only places for light to bounce around are inside the the actual thickness of the glass (which is to say not much room at all), and on the outer surface of the glass.

The issues of reflectivity on an iPad are much greater and more noticeable than any watch, which is why watches can get away with doing AR under the crystal. The iPad's surface area means reflections are much more noticeable and distracting, thus to my thinking, the only place it makes sense to try to kill reflections is on the outer surface of the glass; the first place the eye interacts with the screen.
 
mcdj said:
I'm hoping there's a really good reason for the Air getting anti glare, and I hope it's somehow better than other iterations of the treatment.
Click to expand...

There is...

Apple needed another selling point. I wouldn't put too much hope on the table. You'll likely lose it. Overtime Apple has touted an anti-glare coating on Macs, then iPhones, they've alway been less than what the old matte screens provided. It cuts some glare down, but cutting it down by 40% still leaves 60%.
 
Just to clarify many watch makers us anti-reflective coating on both the inside and outside of the crystal. Check the watch forums it's the same thing, the AR coating scratches but the sapphire crystal is indestructible. Doesn't really matter how strong the sapphire is.
 
Caris said:
The coating will be applied to the actual LCD behind the glass, it won't wear off.
Click to expand...

Ah ... anti-glare coating is applied to the surface that is first hit by the light.

The light reflects partly from the first change in density, which is the outermost surface. You can do it at a "deeper" level but it will not be as effective.

This is why it's called reflection after all ...

----------
seadragon said:
The coating is rubbing off on some of the rMBPs because it's on the surface supposedly.
Click to expand...

Yes. Light reflects from the outermost surface when the density of the medium it travels changes.
 
I hope someone puts a u tube video up once the iPad Air 2 is out and talks about this feature because I'd like to know how much of a difference is the reduction in glare between an iPad Air vs iPad Air 2.
 
Anti reflective coatings can get very exotic and expensive for good ones. We're talking $100 for a high end AR coating alone at cost.
 
jonnyb098 said:
Maybe it's just all marketing to have another selling point.........
Click to expand...

As opposed to just doing it out of the goodness of their hearts?

People seem so surprised when they figure out that Apple is trying to make money just like every other company out there. I happen to think that they make some great products in the process, but they're still out to make money.
 
Screen protector

Will antiglare has no effect with the screen protector attached?

Chupa Chupa said:
There is...

Apple needed another selling point. I wouldn't put too much hope on the table. You'll likely lose it. Overtime Apple has touted an anti-glare coating on Macs, then iPhones, they've alway been less than what the old matte screens provided. It cuts some glare down, but cutting it down by 40% still leaves 60%.
Click to expand...
 
The new antiglare solution is probably due to a higher standard of transmittal than antiglare solutions of the past. Old antiglare coatings used to cut the amount of light transmitted through the display as well as show artifacts on the screen. Newer nano coating antiglare solutions now can cut the glare without sacrificing transmittance or even improve transmittal in some cases.
 
It's likely that they couldn't before now. AR coatings have been around for decades, but durable AR coatings are still relatively new. Applying them on large surfaces is unheard of.

Apple stated a 52% reduction in surface reflectance. This indicates that a durable oleophobic hard coating will be applied over the AR layer. The more durable the HC/Oleophobic layers, the less effective the AR.

AR coatings on eyeglasses, as an example, typically achieve 70-80% reflection elimination with similar layering strategies. Older coatings were actually optically superior, but were not durable at all. Today's coatings eliminate a lower percentage of reflected light, but hold up for years.

An iPad would need significantly more durability than eyeglasses, which would take a lot of time to develop.
 
I really doubt it will be applied to the front of the glass as that already has a Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating, and i don't think they could put two coatings on the same surface.
 
Isamilis said:
Will antiglare has no effect with the screen protector attached?
Click to expand...

Hard to say until it's released but based on my use w/ screen protectors on iPhones, at best, it would have no effect. The screen protector could negate the anti-glare in that the screen protector has its only "shine" factor. Essentially you are adding the glare back in.

There are anti-glare screen protectors but I haven't used those since the iPhone 4. Back then they did get rid of glare but they made the Retina screen look blurry. I switched to regular plastic. But their is a big difference b/t the iPhone and iPad because there is more screen surface, so not 100% comparable.

I'm slapping a screen protector on regardless though. I find them very convenient for screen cleaning and they keep the screen looking new which is a huge plus when you are ready to sell.
 
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